Mo Farah forced to settle for 5,000m silver in final major track race

After six years, 10 straight global titles and four double golds, they finally found a way to beat him in his last big track race.

Sir Mo Farah’s conqueror even had the audacity to celebrate with a ‘Mobot’ as Britain’s most successful track-field-athlete collapsed to the floor in tears.

His shock was shared by 56,000 people packed into the London Stadium who came to witness history repeat itself five years on from Farah’s glorious Olympic 5,000 metres and 10,000m double at the same venue.

There had been four more global doubles since then at Olympic and World Championships level, with the 34-year-old going for the mythical ‘quintuple-double’ at London 2017.

But just as with Usain Bolt in his farewell 100m exactly a week earlier, Farah’s final big 5,000m proved a race too far.

“[I] had tears in my eyes,” he said afterwards. “Never had that before.

“I felt, ‘Wow’. It’s been an amazing journey. To achieve what I have achieved through the years has been incredible.

“And to end it in London, what a way. This is where it all started and I got little emotional because I look at my family, I look at what I’ve done and it gets to you because, at the end of the day, I’m just a human.”

Indeed, there was no shame in defeat in a contest where Farah’s rivals once again made dethroning him their number one priority.

Finishing behind Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris even made the Briton’s achievement in winning an unprecedented 10 successive major championship titles all the more impressive.

“If you look at the history, history doesn’t lie,” he said. “What I’ve achieved for the last six, seven years has been incredible and it just shows what kind of person I am and what it takes to be champion.”

For Farah, the warning signs had been there in a brutal 10,000m eight days earlier, when the Kenyans and Ethiopians threw everything at him.

Edris celebrates by mimicking Farah's signature Mobot move

This time, it appeared they had were handing him the race on a plate, with laps being completed at jogging pace but for a couple of half-hearted breakaways and victory seemingly there for the taking for the man with the fastest finish in the field.

But it was a double-bluff.

With a lap remaining, Edris and his fellow Ethiopians Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon Barega surged to the front, boxing in Farah, who went into the home straight in fourth place with no chance of gold and with it all to do to claim silver.

Unlike a week earlier, when there was an obvious pantomime villain to jeer in Justin Gatlin when Bolt was beaten into third, the crowd were not sure how to react.

As Farah got to his feet, they rightly gave him the ovation his efforts on Saturday night - he finally ended Great Britain’s London 2017 medal drought - and over the previous six years deserved.

Admitting he had been outmanoeuvred, Farah said: “I got boxed in early on - it doesn’t normally happen - but I got boxed in early and couldn’t get out.”

Farah says goodbye to the London crowd

Claiming to have been tired after his 10,000m exertions and 5,000m heats, he added: “Without watching the race, it’s difficult to say, ‘I did this wrong and that wrong’. I know myself, when I crossed the line, there was nothing left of me. There was nothing left of me. I gave it all.”

He refused to criticise the Ethiopians’ tactics or Edris’s ‘Mobot’, which he said he saw as a sign of “respect”.

“You have to give credit to Edris, they had a game plan and it was three against one,” he added.

“They had to sacrifice one of them and it was Kejelcha, who didn’t get a medal.

“Edris sat at the back, and did as little work as possible to then hit me on the last lap. That was their plan.”

It had been a party atmosphere before then, a Mexican ovation following Farah around the track as the laps counted down.

He and they had every reason to feel confident.

Farah had looked imperious in winning the 10,000m, conducting the crowd in the middle of the race and shrugging off bumps and bruises to run his second quickest time ever.

Farah fell just short

He was all smiles when he took to the track last night, waving regally to the stands before playfully shadow boxing and beating his chest to the cameras.

But it was Edris who had the last laugh, the 23-year-old saying afterwards: “I was highly prepared for this race and I knew I was going to beat Mo Farah.

“After the 10km, he was maybe tired so he did not have enough for the last kick. I was stronger.

“Mo has many victories but now I have one. I am the new champion for Ethiopia. That’s why I did the Mobot. I am the next champion.

“I have won the gold in front of his home crowd. I didn’t have much support but we did it. I did the Mobot out of respect as well for him.”

Farah has two more races left on the track this month before seeing out what remains of his career on the road.

“It’s been amazing,” he said. “It's been a long journey but it's been incredible. It doesn't quite sink in until you compete here and cross the line – I had a couple of minutes to myself – that this is it.”

Farah also reflected on his incredible transformation since appointing the controversial Alberto Salazar as his coach in 2011.

Admitting he had considered quitting the sport beforehand, he said: “I had to make the decision to make it. That meant moving to the other side of the world. But nothing was guaranteed.”

On his future plans, he added: “I’ve a few more races planned. After that, I want to take a break then see what I can do on the road. But in terms of my life, this chapter’s done. It’s closed. This is it. Track is done.”

Edris pulls through

Lovely touch that from Edris to come straight over to Farah there - he timed his sprint down the straight perfectly after he and Kejelcha put enough space between themselves and Farah with Chelimo right in the mix too.

Last lap!

4000m

Bold run from the Australian, Patrick Tiernan, who has opened up some space there but is unlikely to sustain that until the end. Farah having a go at Barega for getting in his way but no real danger, four laps left now.

Credit:
BBC

62.8 for that lap, pace increasing. Tiernan still out ahead. Farah will love this you sense, as will the Aussie when he tells it to his grandkids.

Things starting to heat up! Butchart hammers up the inside and Tiernan is gone, as Farah and Butchart go!

2000m

Butchart and Farah at the front, Rutto and Chelimo in behind. Very gentle so far as Edris comes through to join them. No one looking to do too much at this stage... as Edris takes up the lead, his minimal running action making this look an absolute breeze.

The slower you sense the better for Farah, given his worries about fatigue earlier in the week and given the speed of his kick. Eight laps to go, he remains near the front and without a worry.

Fellow Brit

The competition

To be clear, winning this race is not exactly a given for Farah. There are plenty of challengers, which in fact is what you want rather than a procession. The semi-finals were certainly feisty with a number of athletes knocking into each other.

Yomif Kejelcha and Muktar Edris are old rivals of Farah's, both from Ethiopia, with Kejelcha winning their semi-final.

Steve Cram, in the BBC studio, has also earmarked Selemon Barega also from Ethiopia as an unknown threat.

#MoMemories

Not easy to pick out a favourite Farah race - the 2012 5,000m probably edges it for me - but send yours and all ridiculous hashtags for the evening to @bencoles_ on Twitter or ben.coles@telegraph.co.uk